Jan 17 news LIVE! IndiGo fined Rs 22 crore for mass cancellations: Reports

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said (January 17) if God was willing, the party could have its mayor in Mumbai. His remarks came a day after the BJP-Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena combine won the civic elections in the financial capital.

Interacting with Sena (UBT) workers, Uddhav said the BJP wanted to “mortgage” Mumbai and won the polls by betrayal, adding that Marathi manoos will never forgive this sin.

Thackeray said it’s his dream to install Shiv Sena (UBT)’s mayor in Mumbai, and “if God is willing, this dream will be realised”.

He said the BJP is under the impression that it has finished off Shiv Sena (UBT), but that didn’t happen.

“The BJP couldn’t finish off Shiv Sena on the ground,” he said, apparently referring to 65 seats won by Sena (UBT) in the BMC elections.

The BJP used all means but could not buy loyalty, he added. “They (BJP) have registered victory by betrayal for mortgaging Mumbai. Marathi manoos will never forgive this sin. The battle has not ended, but it has just begun,” Thackeray added.

The BJP won 89, and ally Shiv Sena bagged 29 seats in the 227-member BMC, while Shiv Sena (UBT) managed 65 and MNS six seats. The Congress, which fought in alliance with Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), bagged 24 seats, AIMIM 8, NCP 3, Samajwadi Party 2, and NCP (SP) got just one seat.

Congress leader VD Satheesan on Saturday (January 17) launched an attack on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, accusing him of using a Muslim outfit’s platform to make “communal remarks”.

He also charged the ruling CPI(M) with “adopting the Sangh Parivar’s path” by fostering social divisions in the society for political gains.

The controversy stems from the chief minister’s speech at the Kerala Yatra, an outreach programme organised by the Kerala Muslim Jamaat. At the event, Pinarayi claimed that communal riots have been non-existent under the Left rule.

Addressing reporters in Kochi, Satheesan argued that several communal clashes had taken place during the tenure of veteran CPI(M) leaders VS Achuthanandan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Achuthanandan and Balakrishnan had served as the CM and Home Minister of the state respectively.

According to Satheesan, Pinarayi was attempting to project himself as a champion of secularism. “While the CM speaks of secularism, he honours those who spread hatred with silk shawls and garlands,” he claimed.

Satheesan was apparently referring to CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s close ties with Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) leader Vellappally Natesan, who recently faced widespread criticism for his remarks against minorities.

He claimed that the CPI(M) was mirroring the political strategy of the Sangh Parivar by instigating conflicts between communities and deriving political mileage from them.

“When the chief minister and his party continue to speak at length on secularism, it is necessary to respond to such claims,” the LoP added.

Satheesan's response follows a statement made by Vijayan, where he warned that secularism and constitutional values are under threat in the country.

The Marxist veteran had said that Kerala has seen several brutal communal conflicts and riots in the state in the past, but all that has ended due to the strong, uncompromising stand adopted by the LDF against any form of communalism.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday (January 17), virtually flagged off four Amrit Bharat Express trains connecting New Jalpaiguri with Nagercoil and Tiruchirappalli, and Alipurduar with SMVT Bengaluru and Mumbai (Panvel), from north Bengal’s Malda town.

Aimed at accelerating development and strengthening connectivity in West Bengal and the North-East, Modi launched several rail and road infrastructure projects worth over Rs 3,250 crore, on Saturday.

Earlier, the Prime Minister flagged off the country’s first Vande Bharat sleeper train between Howrah and Guwahati (Kamakhya) from Malda Town station.

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Fresh unrest gripped West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Saturday (January 17) as protesters once again blocked National Highway-12 and railway tracks at Beldanga, a day after violent agitations over the death of a migrant worker snapped road and rail links between the state’s northern and southern parts for hours.

Hundreds of locals gathered on the highway at Barua More in Beldanga, bringing traffic on NH-12 to a standstill and triggering long queues of stranded vehicles, while protesters also damaged a railway gate and attempted to disrupt train services, police told the media.

The latest flashpoint was an allegation that another migrant worker—Anisur Sheikh—from the area was brutally assaulted in Bihar, reigniting public anger that had barely subsided after Friday’s violence.

Police deployed a large contingent at the protest site, while local MLA Humayun Kabir reached the spot and held talks with demonstrators and officials to defuse the situation.

Officials said efforts were underway to restore normalcy and prevent the agitation from spiralling into fresh violence.

Tension has been simmering in Beldanga since Friday following the death of 36-year-old Alauddin Sheikh, a resident of the Sujapur Kumarpur gram panchayat area, whose body was found at his rented accommodation in Jharkhand, where he worked as a scrap dealer.

Family members alleged that he was beaten to death and later hung to make it appear like a suicide, triggering widespread outrage after his body was brought home.

Saturday’s agitation comes on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend government programmes and address a public rally.

The bail application of expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil was dismissed by the court on Saturday (January 17).

The Tiruvalla Magistrate court denied bail to Rahul in the third rape case registered against him. The hearing was in-camera.

Rahul’s lawyer argued that the case is fabricated, that he had a relationship with the woman, and that they had consensual sex.

The prosecution submitted that the MLA is a serial offender and two more similar cases are pending against him in other courts.

Indian-American president of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio are among the leaders named to the “Board of Peace” for Gaza redevelopment under President Donald Trump's comprehensive plan to end the conflict.

The White House on Friday (January 16) released a list of appointed members to the founding Executive Board of the Board of Peace, which it said comprises leaders with "experience across diplomacy, development, infrastructure, and economic strategy".

Besides Banga and Rubio, the Executive Board includes US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, former UK prime minister Tony Blair, private equity firm Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, and US Deputy National Security Advisor Robert Gabriel.

“Each Executive Board member will oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza's stabilisation and long-term success, including, but not limited to, governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilisation,” the White House said.

It added that additional Executive Board and Gaza Executive Board members will be announced in the coming weeks.

To establish security and a durable terror-free environment, Major General Jasper Jeffers, Commander of the US Special Operations Command Central, has been appointed Commander of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF).

He will lead security operations, support comprehensive demilitarisation and enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials, the White House said.

US President Donald Trump has suggested that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don't back the US controlling Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital.

Trump for months has insisted that the US should control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and said earlier this week that anything less than the Arctic island being in US hands would be “unacceptable”.

During an unrelated event at the White House about rural health care, he recounted on Friday (January 16) how he had threatened European allies with tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

“I may do that for Greenland too,” Trump said. “I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security. So I may do that,” he said.

He had not previously mentioned using tariffs to try to force the issue.

Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met in Washington this week with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

European leaders have insisted that it is only for Denmark and Greenland to decide on matters concerning the territory, and Denmark said this week that it was increasing its military presence in Greenland in cooperation with allies.

A case has been registered against certain Facebook pages, which allegedly engaged in "false propaganda" that former Aroor MLA Shanimol Usman would quit the Congress and join CPI(M), police said on Saturday (January 17).

The case was registered by Alappuzha South Police, based on a complaint filed by the senior Congress leader, against the pages named "Communist Kerala" and "John Brittas Fans Group" for allegedly spreading false and misleading content, they added.

The complaint was filed after widespread posts appeared on social media suggesting that the woman leader would leave the grand old party.

The posts also falsely claimed that Usman was quitting the Congress following differences with the leadership over the issue of the party's expelled MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, and she had held talks with Industries Minister P Rajeev, and even contacted the chief minister over the phone in this regard.

According to the FIR, the case was registered against unknown persons under section 356 (2) (defamation) of BNS, and section 120 (o) of the Kerala Police Act (causing nuisance or annoyance to the public through communication).

It is alleged that the accused posted the photo of the complainant and the misleading content against her on the said FB pages and circulated it with an intention to defame her, the FIR said.

US regulators have granted a five-week extension for Tesla to respond to allegations that its vehicles have broken traffic laws while operating in what the electric automaker calls “full self-driving” mode.

An investigation of Tesla's full self-driving feature was opened in October after the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration said it had collected dozens of reports of the cars running red lights or driving on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.

The investigation covered 2.9 million vehicles, essentially all Teslas equipped with full self-driving technology, or FSD. Critics say the name is a misnomer that has lulled drivers into handing full control over to their cars. The federal agency responsible for auto safety said in a letter to Tesla on December 3, 2025 that it was investigating 62 complaints, up from 58 reported incidents in October.

Tesla, headed by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, has argued to regulators and in court cases that it has repeatedly told drivers the system cannot drive the cars by itself and whoever is behind the wheel must be ready to intervene at all times. Regulators say that many Tesla drivers involved in accidents said the cars gave them no warning before behaving erratically.

In a letter to the electric vehicle maker, the NHTSA said on Thursday (January 15) that the company now has until February 23 to answer the government's request for information. The original deadline was January 19, 2025.

Army helicopters rescued people stranded on rooftops and hundreds of tourists and workers were evacuated from one of the world's biggest game reserves, as torrential rains and flooding in three countries in southern Africa killed more than 100 people, authorities said on Friday (January 16).

The death toll across South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe is an accumulation after weeks of heavy rains. Weather services issued warnings that more rain was on the way, possibly bringing more destructive flooding.

Mozambique was the hardest hit, with flooding across swathes of the country's central and southern provinces. Its Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction said 103 people had died in an unusually severe rainy season since late last year, though that count included deaths from various causes including electrocution from lightning strikes, drowning in floods, infrastructure collapse caused by the severe weather and cholera, the institute said.

More than 200,000 people have been affected in Mozambique, thousands of homes have been damaged, and tens of thousands face evacuation, the World Food Program said of another crisis in a poor country with limited resources that has faced several damaging cyclones in the last few years.

In neighbouring South Africa, officials said on Friday the death toll from floods in two northern provinces had risen to at least 30, with rescue efforts ongoing.

Zimbabwe's disaster management agency said that 70 people have died and more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in heavy rains since the beginning of the year, while infrastructure including schools, roads and bridges collapsed. Flooding has also hit the island nation of Madagascar as well as Malawi and Zambia.